Originally Posted by ersatz928

I just was indicating that Tadge was sorta hiding where the wheels are made.....his statement would have more integrity if he just stated that they are made in Mexico, rather than "North America". Also, nobody finds it strange that he indicates that they are made by Ronal, but many people have observed "Speedline" cast into the wheel....has anyone seen a GS wheel that has Ronal cast into it?????

Originally Posted by spearfish25

I appreciate the answer and insight. However if you haven’t heard of more bent wheels on these cars then GM needs to being listening better. I’ve bent two wheels which is a first in all of the vehicles I’ve ever owned. Further the use of cast rather than forged wheels in a performance car of this caliber is disappointing. I’ve owned sports cars that cost 1/2 as much and had OEM forged wheels. So while the engineering efforts may have been made to ensure wheel sufficiency, my experience as well as those of many others on this forum have been dramatically different. Wheels are one of the Achilles heels of the GS/Z06.

Originally Posted by ersatz928

"North America" = Mexico

There are very few cars that come from the factory with forged wheels. Some Porsches come to mind.

Originally Posted by red62vette

A few points/questions:

1 - Cast wheels are not automatically inferior, and there are different casting methods, some of which produce very strong wheels.

2 - The combination of RFT, low aspect ratio, and wide barrels yields wheels that are more likely to bend. I think Chevy should not have specified RFTs for these cars. They should just use standard tires and provide an inflator kit, like BMW does on its M cars. I will jet the RFTs as soon as they wear out. They are awful, IMO.

3 - My GS now has about 2,500 miles on it. It is a second car so I don't drive it where where the roads are rough (e.g., San Francisco), I'm super careful, and I haven't hit anything that would normally bend a wheel. There is no vibration that I can feel in the car, but one of the rear tires is losing 2-3 pounds of pressure per week. Usually this would indicate either a rim issue or an embedded nail, but I inspected the tire carefully and couldn't find any nail or screw. I plan to bring it to the dealer for inspection. How many people have had success getting wheels replaced under warranty?

Originally Posted by Jedi-Jurist

First, let me thank you for answering my question, and every question posed to you here. We appreciate having this direct line of communication more than you can know.

I believe the Z51 wheels (my last car was a 2015 Z51) are made in China, but you are correct, the origin of the wheel doesn't really matter, it's the wheel's strength and other characteristics that are important. As others have pointed out, the problem seems to be that GM chose a cast wheel over a similar forged design.

I am most intrigued by this statement: "I have heard from some people that there is a theory that running the car in sport or track can contribute to damaging a wheel. That is not true." Where we are getting this theory is from none other than ... your dealerships. Yes, it's the service advisors, mechanics and even sales reps that warn of driving in track mode and (some even warn of) sport mode. The theory would seem to have some merit, as the energy of a pothole impact would seem to be less concentrated on the wheel and spread more throughout the suspension with a more forgiving setting like tour mode, and conversely to concentrate more energy transfer (and potential for harm) on the wheel when the suspension soaks up much less of the impact. I would love to hear the science and engineering that went into this comment.

"Our field data does not suggest a recent significant increase in the wheel damage rate on our cars." I don't know from which sources you derive your "field data," but as others have noted, there are too many reports on these pages of wide stock wheels bending for no good reason for GM to sweep this under the rug. I personally had two wheels bend with about 700 miles on the odometer of my new Grand Sport. This resulted in a considerable vibration that made the car essentially undrivable at higher speed for any length of time. The dealership fed me the "we've never heard of this happening to anyone in the history of the world" line and claimed that neither had their GM area rep. After sending the dealership an email (of course, the GM rep would never give out his direct email) linking to story after story after story of people on this forum having the same exact problem AND having their wheels replaced under warranty (thereby giving GM knowledge of the issue), I stopped hearing that line from the dealer, but never got an answer to my MANY questions of "so what did the GM rep say when you showed him my email?" Zip. Zero. Nada. I guess admitting and owning up to your faults, whether intentional or not, is not a strong suit of the Glenview, IL area rep.

The dealer diagnosed that the front left wheel was bent, and the GM rep said they would replace it "as a matter of customer goodwill" since the car was essentially brand new and there was no outward signs of damage. While I certainly appreciated this, he was certain to make clear that this was a one-time only deal. Only problem was that the dealership did not fully diagnose the problem, as I learned after the front wheel was replaced and the car still shook at 80 mph (instead of starting at 40 mph like before). The culprit? The first time around, the dealer failed to notice that the left rear wheel had also been bent.

What followed was 3 weeks of trying to get the GM rep to authorize replacement of the rear wheel, only to be told "nope, we said one and we meant one." Of course, no one could answer what would have happened if the dealership had correctly diagnosed both wheels the first time out, but thankfully my wheel warranty stepped up and paid the bill. I actually feel bad for them because, despite your answer, I see this as a defect in the wheel design, material and/or construction, and GM should have covered it.

This is a long way of saying your "field data" is corrupted and unreliable. You have a GM rep in the "field" out there pretending there is no issue, and then clamming up when shown evidence that there is an issue, all while refusing to take financial responsibility for said issue. I urge you to look further into this because we, the owners who have experienced bent wheels, can most certainly assure you this is a major issue for us.

Again, thank you for your time and consideration. If any of the above came off as harsh or untoward, that was not my intention. I am, I'm sure, venting a little frustration in your direction, but I assure you it's nothing personal. I have the utmost respect for you and your team, and I love my C7 (or I wouldn't have bought two of them), but I do want to see the company that makes by beloved C7 step up and fix something that everyone knows to be a problem. Please be as good a car company as you are sports car designers.

Originally Posted by Newton06

This thread makes me nervous. I have bent rims on my C7 Z51 but it has a ton of really hard track days on it including offs and spins, so not a big deal there.

However...

I just purchased a 2018 Z06 Z07 and do not want to run into bent wheel issues.

GM's customer service is largely in the toilet. Most dealers use service advisers to serve as gatekeepers to ensure the dealer gets paid for work. Warranty issues where the dealer may not get paid almost always get dismissed prima facie.

I've owned Lexus & Mercedes vehicles & the dealership experience is night and day.

It's hurting GM because no matter how good the Corvette/Camaro is, people demand better service and will walk to other brands that actually know what that means.

I took my Z06 in to a local dealer (Capital Chevrolet in Raleigh) that refused to perform the 500 mile oil service because they didn't want to risk damaging the car pulling in on their lifts. They also refused to address a TSB I asked about, and refused to address two paint/trim defects that I did not see when I took delivery of the vehicle 10 days earlier.

Really????

Originally Posted by quick04Z06

I just do not want Chinese-made wheels on my all-American sports car. I do not believe it feasible to test the metallurgy on every wheel delivered for a mass produced car so you need to have confidence the manufacturer gets it right even when you are not looking. The wheels should be forged and made here, IMHO. This may raise the price, but so be it. Any car that can nudge 200 mph needs bulletproof wheels and tires.